Zell’s Duel Limit break was like that too…but mixed with aspects ofSabin’ “Blitz” commands
groups of button sequences appear on the screen and as many as possible must be input in the allotted time.
“My Final Heaven” was just one of the possible finishing moves that the combo’s could be ended with…and was the best 😀

The flashbacks may cause Amber problems, but I think Amazi-girl only gets stronger.

Anyways, Blaine doesn’t know, that using Danny as a shield is probably a bad idea. Although this might be the preparation for Danny to redeem himself in the eyes of the readers … by becoming an acceptable loss of course. This level of stupidity cannot be fixed otherwise 😛

In the flashback, Sal’s (and Ethan’s) forearms are bare, like the knife-wielder. Amber’s (and Blaine’s) are covered by long sleeves. Also, Sal seems to be explicitly shown with the knife. Which is not to say that Amber couldn’t have rolled up her sleeves and got hold of the knife . . .

While it’s true that Amber could have prevented the situation by taking different actions, it’s hardly her fault. Danny could have taken different actions and prevented the situation as well.
Neither of them caused it. The bad guy caused it all by himself.

Thought: Something traumatized Sal to the point she started swinging a knife. Perhaps she saw someone that had abused her. Perhaps Blane, a known abuser, had done something to her, before that point. And, there he is, paying for his gas. She has a knife. She tries to use it on Blane.

Even if he hadn’t abused her, even seeing abuse (so a stranger abusing a stranger) can certainly be enough to trigger someone. It looks more, to me, like Blaine was trying to “discipline” Amber, Ethan stepped in, and Blaine flipped out at him.

(I’m assuming the “You’re ruining everything” is what he said both times, based on the speech bubble stretching into the second panel.)

You’d be surprised. I cosplay all the time, and I don’t wear masks–but I do wear wigs. I’m particularly known for dressing up as Misty from Pokemon. The thing is, when my cosplay friends first see me out of costume, they literally don’t recognize me. All it takes is a change of hair color/style/clothes and you’re a different person. (Which is why I don’t mind having my pictures on the Internet. No one recognizes me out of costume. ) if a simple wig can make one unrecognizable, I imagine a mask would work even better.

I dunno…he does seem like the sorta jackass who would’ve read the Evil Overlord List in order to better manipulate those around him, but then showing up to taunt his daughter in a public place is a massive fail in terms of self-awareness, so…

Danny : “oh shit shit shit! What am I seeing?!?”
As his view is blocked by a well place smoke pallet causing him to see blue gloved punches making contact all over Blaine, all the while hearing.
Amazing-girl: “you son of a bongo! Take him away! Use him as a hostage! You were the one that should’ve went to jail! Not that girl! You put her up to this! Everything wrong in everyone’s life is your fault!”
And continue the incorherant tasting of a super hero as she takes out years of repressed anger and rage out on the source of it all… Her douche bag of a father.
Yup, this is what I think will happen

“‘I have a dream.’ That one day every person in this nation will control their own destiny. A nation of the truly free, dammit. A nation of action, not words, ruled by strength, not committee! Where the law changes to suit the individual, not the other way around. Where power and justice are back where they belong: in the hands of the people! Where every man is free to think – to act – for himself! Fuck all these limp-dick lawyers and chickenshit bureaucrats. Fuck this 24-hour Internet spew of trivia and celebrity bullshit! Fuck American pride! Fuck the media! FUCK ALL OF IT! America is diseased. Rotten to the core. There’s no saving it – we need to pull it out by the roots. Wipe the slate clean. BURN IT DOWN! And from the ashes a new America will be born. Evolved, but untamed! The weak will be purged and the strongest will thrive – free to live as they see fit, they’ll make America great again! …In my new America, people will die and kill for what they BELIEVE! Not for money. not for oil! Not for what they’re told is right. Every man will be free to fight his own wars!”

Something just occurred to me, how old is Faz in the Dumbingverse? He’s too young to be a college student, but is he young enough for Blaine to get charged with child abandonment as a final kick in the ribs on his way out of the story?

If he’s under 18, I’m pretty sure you can be charged with child abandonment, it’s just under more extreme circumstances. Because Dina and her parents were there, he could claim he asked them to watch Faz.

What exactly is Blaine intending to do anyway? Was he gonna hurt Amber in front of a witness? What the hell is he expecting to accomplish? I don’t doubt that he’s a short sighted self-justified rage-monkey, but jesus christ.

Amazi-girl finally did what everyone of us has tried to do for Danny since this entire misshap started: she finally spelled it out to him.
Now let’s see the ensuing massacre that Blaine’s about to become.

This. If no one else pointed it out I was going to, I’m impressed that she actually said it. I thought that she’d try to avoid doing so- 1. to avoid suggesting any ties to Amber, 2. because she doesn’t like telling people this (if she had just told Danny sooner, this whole incident would’ve been avoided). She didn’t just say “This guy’s a jerk”, she gave specifics about why she’s taking the actions she’s taking, making it easier for Danny to have a clear view of who’s good and bad if it does escalate to a fight. Danny trusts AG, so he has reason to believe her, and if he has two brain cells to rub together he can look back and realize Blaine’s actions were suspicious (and now Blaine’s really shooting himself in the foot).

The great thing about that extended chase sequence is that it proves beyond any doubt that Amazi-Girl is legit capable of pulling off some real Batman-style performance. Assuming her psychosis doesn’t get in the way too much (and/or in the wrong way), this could really get brutal.

If you mean the 5th panel- AG hadn’t yet said WHY Blaine’s a bad guy (she was in the process of saying it as Danny was moving). Also, Danny, Blaine, and AG are in a sort of triangle- Danny’s movement could be towards either of them. So he could be getting closer to his girlfriend, which is normal behavior.

Fuck, this triggered another anxiety attack. My heart is just jackhammering inside my chest. I can’t get over just how close to home Blaine’s abuse hits for me. Much more than I expected. If I didn’t trust Willis to deliver some serious catharsis at some point, I don’t think I could keep reading this part of the plot.

So yeah, there’s Blaine’s breakdown right on schedule, like we could see coming eight strips ago. Has this ass gone through his entire life without ever having his authority challenged because that’s the only way I can imagine he was ever able to convince anyone he should be allowed around people.

Career abusers are master bullshitters and manipulators, and for some reason most people just are not capable of recognizing Predator Face when they see it. People have an enormous capacity for ignoring evil that’s right in front of them, in order to keep from having to be the one who actually does something about it, whether it’s individual monsters like Blaine or sociopathic corporations or tyrannical governments.

Normal people are sociable. On the one hand, they don’t really ‘get’ and don’t expect psycho- or socio-paths and so they don’t pick up the clues well — people tend to overlook or not respond effectively to what they aren’t atuned to. On the other hand, most people avoid violent confrontations and aren’t very good at them relative to those who are. So ‘paths’ have a twofer edge over ‘normals’. Talking about strangers here (vs intra-family abusers), as Danny and Blaine are. That Danny is at the extreme end of the curve of cluelessness only makes this an extreme case. No one knows how they will deal with a psy- or so- until they have — and VERY few of us are Supers, that’s why we identify with them: they’re competent at this.

So, has it been confirmed that Amazi-Girl’s mask adequately hides her identity? Given, it is night time, and it is raining, so visual awareness is a bit low, but depending on where the light source is, her dad should be able to see her pretty well. And if her own father can’t recognize her under the mask, then would it be safe enough to say that no one really can?

It’s not just the mask, though. She started wearing her hair differently, her body language is different, her voice change would make Tara Reid envious, and to top it off… people are usually too busy gawking at the yellow and blue superhero outfit to even LOOK at her face.

And here we find out Ethan was actually killed by Sal in the convenience store, and everything that happened in Dumbing of Age so far was a constructed reality in Amber’s mind to cope with the fact that her best friend is really dead.

Interesting point: Blaine has either officially assaulted Danny now (for legal purposes) or is on the brink of doing so. If Danny goes to the police after this and files charges things could get very difficult for Blaine, considering that he’s already violating a restraining order.

Hell, I think Amber should have probably called the police from the minute she found out Danny was with her father. Even if Blaine hadn’t technically harmed him at that point, she knew he might have the potential to do something of that nature. Blaine might not end up arrested/punished in that scenario, but the presence of real law enforcement would at least make him hesitate to pull something like this, as opposed to a random girl in a hero costume telling him to knock it off. Now, we have both Danny and Amazi-girl in serious danger, and even the possibility of Blaine being punished in the aftermath hinges on one of them being badly enough hurt to make a plausible case against him.

Aaaaaaand now the police show up, make Blaine release Danny, hold Blaine for questioning while they check with campus security and give those cute kids a ride home. A total no drama ending because then all will say DAMN YOU WILLIS.

Regardless of how plausible it is that no one’s recognized Amazi-Girl as Amber yet, I assumed that Blaine would recognize her immediately, and be astounded that Danny doesn’t, just because Rule of Funny.

Danny: “But, Amazi-Girl! How do you know all this about Amber’s father?”
Amazi-Girl: “What, are you dense? Are you retarded or something? Who the hell do you think I am?”

What exactly is Amazi-girl ruining? His chance at making up with his daughter? His chance at….attacking her? Really? “Damn you superhero, I just want to assault my daughter and this moron here, give me a bone!”

As Amazi-Girl said, her father wants to use Danny as (emotional) leverage over the daughter he loves to abuse, and because Danny now knows that, the leverage is kind of gone. And that angers Blaine. (And you wouldn’t like Blain when he’s angry. Or not angry, for that matter.)

I’m worried that this won’t end well for Danny. In the original Roomies, Ruth’s death was used as a motivating factor for Danny. What if this time it’s what happens to Danny that acts as a motivating factor for Amazi-Girl? Blaine is at the limit here, and if there was anyone in the Dumbing of Age universe capable of murder, it’d be him.

Granted, I don’t think that’s going to happen. There’s too many plot things happening around Danny for him to be killed off. But dang, he is THAT close to becoming the male equivalent of Women in Refrigerators.

actually walky is just insane, there is no sal and there never was. He just every now and then dresses up as his imaginary twin sister and sexes up the math TA, no one has the heart to tell him, every time you see him ‘talking to his sister’ he’s just talking to thin air. Poor Danny couldn’t even tell with the pants slipping so low.

I still say that Amazi-Girl hasn’t done anything yet that would bring her to the attention of law enforcement. She stopped someone from beating up Danny, she stopped some sign vandals, and she stopped someone from ripping off a bicycle. Hell, if anyone needs to worry about being the subject of an assault complaint, it would be Sarah for her baseball bat beatdown of Joyce’s wanna-be rapist.

She’s wearing a mask. She styles her hair differently. She speaks in a different voice. She’s dressed in a full-body suit that conceals every inch of visible skin below the neck. There’s pouring rain in front of all their faces. The sky is overcast, and it’s almost nighttime. None of this is even taking into account that pale-skinned brunette girls are a dime a dozen on any given public university campus.

If anyone but Ethan and her own mother could recognize Amber under all that crap, they would deserve a freaking medal.

Has anyone else noticed that the hands near Amber in the flashback look awfully big? Even perspective-wise she shouldn’t have manhands at a petite age thirteen.
I think there is a man behind her ready to restrain her from going to Ethan’s aid.

You know, people not really knowing Amber’s appearance or stature or Amber herself is one thing and Danny being……sigh Danny and Amber purposely changing her appearance as Amazi-girl some what so he doesn’t figure it out BECAUSE HE’S DANNY is another. But the fact that Blaine doesn’t realize that that’s his own daughter about to kick his ass is sad. I mean yeah she’s in costume and costumes are meant to disguise you and let you become someone else. But it’s not that hard to put 2 and 2 together. I’m assuming that phone call wasn’t too long ago and she let Amazi- girl slip out then but who knows….He was standing in the shadows outside the dorms but he probably wasn’t there when she burst out the door while changing. But still…………Either way I want to see his ass go down. His daughter and himself need help, but Amber even if she isn’t handling in the best way, know she has some problems while this bastard thinks he knows best and UGH! Please go to jail!

The flashback is likely not of something Blaine did… Not too long ago, Amber had a comparison flashback where she hit Blaine where she had HIS face and HIS enjoyment of causing pain to someone else. This flashback is probably reminding her, yet again, that she is her father’s daughter, because I’m certain that flashback was from the trip her and Ethan took with her father, where she was freaking out about buying a snack at the gas station…

Back then she was outwardly anxious about being in control of how people, even cashiers, perceived her. Something as simple as knowing that she wanted a certain snack, which was beyond her control, was terrifying. Ethan tried to quell it, but I think it will show that he failed… and he failed terrifyingly hard because she perceived it as him trying to take control away from her. This need for control is what she learned from Blaine, who right here, is flipping out because some superhero is ruining his plans to hurt his daughter so she’s submissive again. He’s losing control, and he is reminding her of the person she used to be, and despite having gone to such lengths to repress and correct herself, still is.

You say this won’t end well for Blaine? I’d say Amber is the one who is going to suffer. A lot.

My father was exactly like Blaine, so I understand what girls like Amber go through. When you lash out even at the one who abused you, it terrifies you that you have that kind of rage in you. On one hand, you really really really want that fucker to suffer like you suffered. On the other hand, you are so scared that once you let go and let loose on that abuser, the rage is so complete and terrifying that the satisfaction you may feel by letting that fucker have it physically and or/verbally is short lived when you know that you are capable of that kind of rage that was aimed at you. It’s not black and white. It’s not clear cut. You feel like Bruce Banner. You live life knowing that there is this thing inside you that can snap at any minute and take over and do a lot of damage to yourself and others.

I mean, I get the whole ‘Blaine is an emotionally and physically abusive asshole’ thing, but Amber is showing that same rage and complete lack of control and even enjoyment of it, that Blaine possesses. If anything, like Mike said, she really is her father’s daughter.

That aside, there’s the whole ‘she’s probably gonna to go to jail because she’s looking to beat a man either to death or to an inch of his life’ thing, and I’m guessing ‘anger management isn’t something you learn real well while incarcerated.

Wow
It’s 10.5 months later and I finally understand what was unintended by Blaines melting dialogue box in panel 6/7. ( D’oh )
Granted it existing between 2 panels with an internal drama in Amber’s head is a clue,
as is WOG in the next page. Im probably just a little slow.

I’m sure Willis explictly meant it to be understood correctly, as he telegraghs this ….. But just in case , I’m not leaving any spoilers for new readers.